


Secrets, Secrets are no fun

by DefendersofMCUniverse (GeekMom13)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha Tony Stark, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Compound, Avengers Family, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky and Winter are Like Bruce and the Hulk, Canon-Typical Violence, Casual conversations about murder, Comic Book Medical Science, Comic Book Science, De-aging, Double Knotting, Double Penetration, Double Penetration in One Hole, Family Feels, M/M, Magic is the Literal Worst, No de-aged sex, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Verse, Period-Typical Homophobia, Tony Stark Has A Heart, magic spells, slight body horror, team fuck canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:07:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekMom13/pseuds/DefendersofMCUniverse
Summary: Tony was distracted by Bucky trying to kick at Stephen for upsetting him, scooping the five (six? ten?) year old into his arms and calming him down. He really needed to figure out their ages soon because his only current reference was "not baby" and "smaller than his first meeting with Harley.” Which left a very large range, but hopefully no ruts would be happening soon — he was definitely in high school for his first rut. So he might just have to deal with a bit of growling and posturing; which wasn’t all that rare with them when they weren’t toddlers.Bucky was still glaring and where the hell did that knife come from?Stephen was holding out a sheet of paper to them and Steve marched over and snatched it, joining Bucky in the glaring, luckily unarmed. Tony wasn’t sure what was going on, they hadn’t been able to figure much of anything out yet since their primary concern was getting the child-super-soldiers clothed and safe. It was his least favorite position — caught on the wrong foot with nothing to work on.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 24
Kudos: 152
Collections: Stuckony Server Bingo Collection





	Secrets, Secrets are no fun

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Stuckony Server's Fuckin' Smut Bingo space U4 - Omega Living as an Alpha
> 
> Special thanks to Shosh for beating, And my Kie and Scar for cheer-reading my angst

“Fix them.”

“I can’t.”

Tony resisted calling the armor. “You’re the grand poobah of magic, and they were turned into this by magic! FIX THEM.”

Stephen let his red glow pass through the young men again, chuckling as each one fought to protect the other. “There is nothing to be done.”

Tony clenched his jaw and took a deep breath; he was in no mood for this.

“Perhaps Loki might—”

“No,” Tony snapped, “I am _not_ letting reindeer games anywhere near my boyfriends.”

“Boyfriends now, is it?” Stephen squatted in front of them, “Emphasis on the boy, I guess.”

Tony wanted to punch him, but he had made a promise. It was bad enough to see them both huddled together in tied-up shirts. Bucky had already had one meltdown over his arm, and then they had been evacuated; Tony was pretty sure that topic would be addressed again once things were calm.

“Relax, Stark. They’ll be back to their normal selves… eventually.”

“Not. Helpful.”

Stephen looked up. “Well, it doesn’t seem linked to an action or a time frame. I don’t know what _when it is right_ means.”

“You can see that? Can I?”

Stephen scoffed. “No. But also, I just overheard.”

“You understood that?”

Stephen raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “I suppose your technology couldn’t translate.”

“Hey! No insulting JARVIS!”

Tony was distracted by Bucky trying to kick at Stephen for upsetting him, scooping the five (six? ten?) year old into his arms and calming him down. He really needed to figure out their ages soon because his only current reference was _not baby_ and _smaller than his first meeting with Harley_. Which left a very large range, but hopefully, it meant that no ruts would be happening soon — he was definitely in high school for his first rut. So he might just have to deal with a bit of growling and posturing, which wasn’t all that rare with them when they _weren’t_ toddlers.

Bucky was still glaring, and _where the hell did that knife come from?_

Stephen was holding out a sheet of paper to them, and Steve marched over and snatched it, joining Bucky in the glaring, luckily unarmed. Tony wasn’t sure what was going on, they hadn’t been able to figure much of anything out yet since their primary concern was getting the child-super-soldiers clothed and safe. It was his least favorite position — caught on the wrong foot with nothing to work on.

“Right,” Stephen brushed off his hands and started creating the circle, “I do have other things to do. Talk to you, well, for the next emergency.”

Tony found himself on the lawn of the compound before he could respond.

“Awesome. Give me the weapon, Bucky.”

“No.”

“Where did you even _find that,_ you were naked!”

Bucky narrowed his eyes and said nothing.

Tony sighed. “No stabbing people.”

“Won’t s’long as they leave us alone.”

“No,” Tony tried for a stern face, “No stabbing unless I say it’s okay.”

Steve snorted at that — coughing deeply after. “Good luck with that.”

Bucky stuck his tongue out. “Y’ain’t any better yourself.”

He watched mini-Steve puff up like he was still Captain America. “I don’t like bullies.”

This was going to be a long… however long it took to fix this. He needed coffee.

“So, question, do you know how old you are?”

Bucky shrugged. “S’weird.”

Steve looked over, concerned. “Buck, I’m eight, you’re nine.”

“Yeah,” he said faintly and gripped the knife harder.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked.

Bucky tensed and looked away. “S’nothin, just didn’t know what time’a year it was.”

Steve accepted this, but Tony couldn’t shake the look he saw in Bucky. He’d save the other questions for later. Except double-checking the one — because really, if they still thought it was before the war, there would be some issues with J and the bots. “Tell me the year again?”

Bucky had that look again.

“2019,” Steve scoffed, “You okay, Tony?”

“Okay, good. Let’s head in.”

Everything was very much _not_ good. Tony was now faced with his brand new boyfriends being grade school age. They had just barely gotten together, and Tony was going to have to cancel their second date because of this. There were so many ways this was definitely going to go wrong. And that was before he even sorted out why they were young, aware of the current time, but upon waking Steve had called him Howard. As Strange had discovered, there was very little they remembered from their adult lives, but they didn’t seem phased by modern technology. Well, at least that was the case for Steve — Tony didn’t let him ask many questions.

Yeah, coffee. Coffee was his new mission — and probably taking Bucky’s weapons away again. Nine-year-olds probably shouldn’t have knives, right?

He placed the paper on the counter for JARVIS to intake while they went to find clothes that weren’t just t-shirts and boxers held into place with makeshift twisted metal shoved through like pins.

“J, add a sewing kit to my plans for the next upgrade.”

_Sir?_

“Just do it.”

_Of course, Sir._

Bucky had immediately hidden, and Steve was adamant that Tony not go looking for him because it wasn’t proper. And honestly, it had been _far_ too long of a day to examine why. He just had JARVIS monitor them and headed to his room.

* * *

Tony woke up with a knife to his throat.

It said things about his life that it wasn’t surprising, nor was it the first time. Between the spies, some bad choices in one-night-stands, the various Avengers’ flashbacks, and the whole kidnapped thing… Yeah, his life was fucked.

“I’m not nine.”

“Okay.”

“But I am.”

Tony paused. “Okay.”

“I remember you. Stevie doesn’t. He’s different — I’m different.”

Tony reached towards the knife and gently pulled it off his neck. “I’m gonna sit up.”

Bucky let him, pressing the knife to Tony’s inner thigh once he settled. “Stevie was… big.”

“He was,” Tony agreed.

“And I shouldn’t know that if I slice you clean through here, you’ll be useless in seconds and dead before I get out of the house.”

Tony tensed but forced himself to relax quickly. “Probably not, no. Can’t say many kids inherently know that.”

Bucky took a few breaths, and Tony could see the pain in his expression.

“Remember what Strange said. Back to your normal selves?”

Bucky nodded.

“Well. J, pull up a photo of us, please.”

Tony’s TV flickered on; the brightness set low. It was a picture from their first date; one Pepper had taken to tease Tony.

Bucky pressed into Tony’s leg with the knife before walking over to the TV and tracing his face on the screen, then down to his left arm. “I remember _that,”_ Bucky said, inflection at the end confusing Tony.

“We still have it, but it’s a bit big now. We’ll put it back on when you stop being not-so-fun-sized.”

Bucky nodded, and the TV started to dim more. He cast one last look to Tony and headed to the door.

“Don’t you want this back?” Tony held up the knife.

“Keep it. And _use_ it. You’re too trusting.”

Tony let out a breath and tossed it onto his dresser, crawling out of bed and accepting that he was definitely not getting any more sleep. Tony made a mental note to explain to Bucky everything in the compound that kept them secure. Natasha had similar worries with new locations; he had discovered that spies who felt safe were less likely to attempt to _prove_ security sucked with various attacks.

“JARVIS, fire up the lab, make it an espresso day.”

_Of course, Sir._

If he still drank, it would be a tequila sort of day. “I’ll be focusing on the spells, aliens, and Bucky’s arm. Let Bruce know where I am.”

There was no response, but that was typical. Tony got dressed and grabbed the knife just in case. Big Bucky was very offended by his weaponry gifts not being used, so mini-Bucky probably would be too. Maybe he could work the knife into something after.

* * *

He was three espressos deep and feeling the beginnings of a headache over the magic when the lab door opened up. Bruce had definitely found out about the little issues after he came back to himself, and he seemed to think it was Tony’s fault.

Which was actually not true this time.

“Tony,” he started, then seemed to give up.

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“You always say that, you know?”

“And like, half the time I’m not lying.”

“I’m counting DUM-E as part of _your fault._ So, I’d put it as more like eighty twenty.”

Tony laughed and pulled up the news footage from the alien attack. “These things hit them with magic — two different spells, apparently?”

“Those are even weirder looking than I remembered.”

Tony grunted in agreement. “I still can’t decide if they’re just legs with a face and wimpy arms… or a tube of wiggly fur and arms.”

“I’m not sure it matters, Tony.”

“No,” Tony downed his fourth cup, “But it’s less painful to think about than an eight-year-old Steve who definitely got back all his bullshit health and none of the memories of us and a nine-year-old Bucky who may or may not remember the frozen years.”

Bruce nodded and looked at the screen. “A wiggly set of legs with wimpy arms.”

* * *

Natasha was staring at them again. Bucky knew enough about her to know she was unsafe but had no clue how or why. It was like knowing about hiding weapons or hiding his— well, he knew she was not to be trusted, and she kept trying to be kind to them. The man she was with seemed nice. But he was _with her._ So Bucky decided he wasn’t to be trusted either.

But Thor seemed nice.

He had met them and then proceeded to drag them all over the flat surfaces, people tagging onto the train of bodies dragging behind him. The entire team had formed a train, and Thor wasn’t even struggling. Thor had also let them try to lift the hammer.

Bucky just wanted to check on Tony again. He hadn’t been around for food, and food was definitely necessary. Even if part of his brain was screaming about maintenance and no need to bother eating. He had no fucking clue why there was a voice in his head telling him eating wasn’t necessary.

Stevie was more than happy to trust everyone, and Bucky was about ready to shove Steve into his nest and make him fucking stay put. He was absolutely not going to listen to the mean voice’s idea on Stevie.

Nope. _That_ voice knew how to kill someone.

That voice was allowed nowhere near Stevie. He didn’t want it near Tony either. Maybe he should shove Tony _and_ Stevie into his nest and make them protect each other _from_ that voice, even if that voice was smart. It was still mean.

Natasha was still staring.

But he couldn’t grab a weapon without her locating his hiding spot, and Steve would definitely not approve of injuries to his new friends, even if it was a non-lethal one and the friend was hiding everything from them.

Bucky was having trouble fully ignoring the voice, though, and that was a problem.

Steve got up for the bathroom, and while Bucky watched to make sure he was safe, Natasha sat next to him.

“You remember me. But not Clint or Thor.”

**Natalia.**

“Yes, I do,” Bucky responded.

“But not as Natasha.”

Bucky glared.

“What is bouncing around in your head?” She reached to tap his head but paused when he tensed.

**Not Operating Within Parameters. Recommend Maintenance for Both.**

“Natalia,” Bucky says instead, “and maintenance.”

She flinched at the second part but nodded. “And the mission?”

**Protect Steve. Hide the nest. Omega is no good.**

Bucky growled at that. “None of your business.”

She looked into his eyes. “You should consider how you know who I am.”

**Hydra.**

She tilted her head before he could answer. “Bad place to stash a knife. If you need an actual holster, let me know. My armbands should work.”

**Yes. Trust for now.**

“I think I’d like that.”

Natasha patted his cheek with a fake smile and stood up as Steve came back. “I’ll leave you be. Stop by any time.”

“Thought you didn’t trust her,” he prompted.

**Trust no one forever, but Steve and Tony.**

Bucky shrugged. “Ain’t set in stone. Wanna go nap?”

Steve smiled and hopped up — he was such an _Alpha_ about Bucky’s nest. He could feel the missing presence of Rebecca almost as much as he felt his missing arm. Everything was off-balance now. No sister, no arm, no innocence. He looked down at Steve, curled into his left side like Bucky could still wrap an arm around him that way, and Bucky could see so many versions of him there — from their first nest all the way up to the morning before this all happened.

Even this nest, it held the echo of them as adults. Too big, too deeply scented, and the scent fading too much from his other Alpha’s stolen shirt.

* * *

This time Tony woke up _before_ the knife was at his neck. He still didn’t react in time, though.

“How are you alive with these survival skills?”

Tony let out a sharp breath. “I usually find my home to be safe.”

There was a look Tony couldn’t identify on Bucky’s face before he slipped the knife back into the leather on his thigh. “By my count, you’ve almost died at least twice at home. From attacks specifically.”

“I —” Tony tilted his head, “you shouldn’t know that.”

Bucky pursed his lips.

“You remember more than Steve.”

There was a significant pause as Bucky twirled the knife. “Well, yeah. Thought that was obvious from yesterday morning.”

Tony nodded and pointed to the arm. “Best not to assume. Wanna tell me what pissed you off about that junk, then?”

Bucky looked as relieved as Tony thought he would. Tony, on the other hand, was terrified now. He needed to get Shuri here. Fast. He had just gotten Bucky to feel comfortable enough to date, and if the words were back, Bucky might never trust himself.

“— Honestly, the cold is the worst.”

“I think we can fix that.”

Bucky smiled. “Which part?”

“J, wanna run some numbers?” Tony hoped the AI would, for once, not be as sarcastic as he normally was.

_The requested changes seem feasible. We might even take off a good bit of weight._

“Maybe we can call in Shuri to see about vibranium?”

_Of course, Sir. I’ll alert her of your request._

“Awesome.”

Tony started moving the arm around and was glad to see a list of Bucky’s complaints on one of his screens. Most of it was easy, problems caused by incompatible parts grinding together, but the weight, cold, and cleaning would be significant changes.

He lost himself in the retooling, barely noticing Steve coming in to curl up with Bucky. He could almost imagine it was like when they were adults, Steve sitting there drawing while Bucky leaned against him and cleaned weapons. But then he’d look over to comment on something, and reality would filter back in.

Thor hadn’t even been able to identify the aliens, so Tony couldn’t go and teach them a lesson. They were likely an odd hybrid of planet-less travelers, and Tony was well aware of how impossible they would be to destroy. He was still a bit angry that Strange knew the language they spoke when he didn’t. Ancient magical tongue his ass.

“I assume this means you’ve learned that something working does not mean it can not be improved?”

Tony spun around with a smile and hugged Shuri. “I’ve always loved improvements!”

“As long as it is within your comfort zone.”

Bucky snorted at that, but Steve looked confused. Shuri looked over at them and made a face.

“Princess Shuri, been a while,” Bucky tilted his head.

Steve elbowed him. _“Who?”_

Tony watched Bucky tense. “Princess Shuri, of Wakanda,” Tony says. “She’s here to help me fix up Bucky’s arm.”

“I say we destroy it and start over.”

Steve bowed towards her and started to whisper angrily at Bucky. The few bits Tony could hear centered on Steve’s clothing, so Tony diverted his attention back to the arm and pointed out the issues to Shuri while Steve snuck out to change into something fitting of royalty.

“How is my favorite broken white boy?”

“A bit too much _boy_ for my own liking,” Bucky grumbled.

She tapped at her Kimoyo beads and started to scan Bucky. Even with his shirt on, there was a clear hologram forming above the arm.

“Hey!” Tony whined, “No hacking into JARVIS!”

“It is not hacking if I have permission.”

“Who gave you permission?”

Shuri laughed. “JARVIS.”

“Traitor,” Tony called up to the ceiling.

“At least the aliens did not undo the rest of my work, even if they mangled the connection I made to your arm… We will make it better, though. Less of the pain that you refuse to admit exists.”

“I—” Bucky tried to cut in.

“The beads do not lie.”

Bucky glared at her.

“That is even less intimidating on a baby’s face, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Bucky. ‘S just Bucky.”

“You have said that before,” she smiled, “But you are not looking at me like a friend.”

Tony laughed. “I think that’s just his default. Resting murder face.”

She tilted her head and tapped at her beads again, a new diagram of Bucky’s brain pulling up next to the shoulder scan. “I would have to overlay this with the last scan before you left, but I believe the words are still ineffective.”

Shuri walked over to one of Tony’s screens and started to pull up Bucky’s old brain scans. She squinted at the overlay and turned to Bucky. “You remember?”

Bucky shrugged.

“This scan. It shows—” she enlarged bits that were changed, brighter, healthier, “I have seen this in one other person.”

Bucky tensed as Tony spoke up. “Who?”

“Doctor Banner.” Shuri let out a breath and pulled up another brain scan, “This is what we discovered when he accepted the Hulk.”

Tony’s heart broke at the look on Bucky’s face before he ran out of the room. “But you said no trigger words?” Tony asked.

Shuri pulled up another scan and highlighted the areas they had worked with. “No trigger words. I do not think he will be returning today. We should work on the arm.”

Tony knew she was right and made a note for JARVIS to make sure Bucky had access to food wherever he was going to be hiding.

Steve came in a few minutes later, angry and doing his best at being intimidating. It was fairly adorable. “What did you do to Bucky?”

“Nothing, Steve. He’s just a little upset over the whole situation,” Tony placated.

“Tony,” he narrowed his eyes, “he won’t let me back into his nest.”

“Nest?”

“Yes!” Steve shouted, “I haven’t been kicked out _ever!_ Only Becca ever got shoved out!”

And Tony wasn’t sure what to do with that. It wasn’t that Alphas couldn’t build nests… It’s that they _didn’t._ They didn’t _nest,_ and they didn’t _kick people out of nests._ A panicked Alpha wanted to be _away_ from their own scent, not surrounded by it. And even if Bucky hadn’t been born— well, his own scent would be even more distressing to him, and he would likely find a more open spot with fresh air and camp out. But a long-lasting nest that Bucky was hiding in alone could only mean one thing.

And Tony’s heart broke that it was a secret that Bucky hadn’t been able to tell him.

* * *

“You are a monster in me, and I listened to you.”

**I am a monster.**

“Then why do I trust you?”

**I am you.**

Bucky curled deeper into his nest and knew it was true. He could remember the feeling of a gun in his hands, the sight of a person dying, the feel of pain. “I’m NOT YOU!”

**I am what they made you.**

“I am not you. I can’t—”

**To survive, we are.**

Bucky shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”

**We thought that at the start, too.**

Bucky ignored the voice. There was no way he would ever — but he knew he did. The memories were there. Natasha, she— she had been just as upset as the voice was about the thought of maintenance. He couldn’t be imagining it all. He _knew_ he wasn’t. When they got back from the mission, Bucky could remember flashes of everything, and he knew exactly where to drag Steve — the unused closet that Tony had insisted they needed when they first moved in because _eventually,_ they would have more stuff.

“Bucky, let me in,” Steve called from the door.

Bucky stared down the door, considering all the places he stored weapons — which now felt weird, who put _weapons_ in a nest? But the thought of being unprotected was equally awful.

“Please, Buck?”

“I—” he paused, trying to decide _who_ trusted Steve. Was it him, or was it… whoever that voice was?

“At least take the food? Y’know I hate when you don’t eat.”

He did — he remembered days when his stomach ached in hunger, but he still shoved food off on Rebecca and Steve’s plates, saying he was full. Steve always grumbled about him being a self-sacrificing idiot.

He opened the door and pulled Steve into his nest. He could agree with the voice on this one; Steve _could_ be trusted, forever.

“Tony wouldn’t tell me what happened. Are you okay, did she hurt you?”

“I’m fine, Steve.”

“I know we lived here before, but if anything, if they… We can make it out there without them!”

Bucky snorted about the same time his inner voice did. He opted to hide it from Steve.

“I’m serious! If they’re makin’ you uncomfortable—”

Bucky pulled him down and wrapped his arms around Steve. “I know, punk. But don’t go stinkin’ up my nest with your rage.”

Steve sputtered at that. Even if they barely scented at this age, Bucky had no desire to remember any of the things the mild smell was reminding him of. Stevie wouldn’t remember days on the pier or the first time they kissed after Bucky got dumped.

He was sixteen and came home covered in a milkshake, Steve had been furious, and so Bucky did the only thing he could think of to get Steve to shut up; he gripped the front of Steve’s shirt and kissed him hard.

He thought about the time when he was ready to leave for the Army. Steve had been trying so hard not to let his scent sour Bucky’s mood, and failing miserably. Bucky let Steve think it had worked, cracking a joke about doing stupid things while he was gone.

Hopefully, Steve would remember, on the other side of this. He couldn’t imagine a life where Steve forgot them falling in love. It had ripped out his heart when they first got hit with the spell, and Steve looked confused as to why Bucky had run to grab his hand. He couldn’t imagine Steve making the same mistake twice, especially with his new inner voice. So he would just have to hope that when Steve remembered them growing up, he’d also remember falling in love.

**There was a time we didn’t remember him.**

* * *

Tony slammed the door open. “Bruce, I need to drink.”

“Nope,” Bruce didn’t bother looking up, “but I feel I should remind you that I’m _not that kind of doctor,_ either.”

“But, you are that kind of friend.”

Bruce sighed. “As much as I don’t want to be.”

Tony collapsed onto the couch. “What do you do when you’re told a secret that you know you wouldn’t have been told under normal circumstances?”

“I assume _forgetting_ is not an option?”

“If I manage to hear it, I will never forget it,” Tony waved his hand, “it’s why I always ignore people.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. It’s one of many reasons. But come _on_ , Brucie, why would I want to hear about someone’s theory to make a zero-emissions car if I just create a new element? Like, I can just _make a new element!”_

“Is now the time I point out that you did, in fact, make a new element, and of everyone in the world that puts you as the _only_ expert willing and able to do so?”

“Okay, but that was when I was _dying_ , so if I exploded myself, it was not exactly a tragedy.”

Bruce took in a breath. “There are so many things wrong with that statement.”

“Eh, you’re not that kinda doctor.”

“Okay, so a no to forgetting. How are you affected?”

Tony was quiet for a while. “I can’t answer that.”

“Okay, but you know. So, would it have changed any of your actions?”

“Of course not! I’m not an asshole!”

Bruce laughed. “Uh-huh. So what do you plan to do?”

“I guess I need to… talk. To them.”

“Good. They deserve that.”

“You make a great therapist.”

 _“Tony,”_ Bruce started in warning.

“Just saying. If the whole jolly green giant thing goes away…”

“Why are we even friends?” Bruce grumbled under his breath as Tony got up to leave.

“Life would be boring without me!”

“Boring is not bad!”

Tony laughed and headed towards Bucky’s floor. He knew that was where Steve and Bucky had been hiding lately—it was not an invasion of privacy to know where his boyfriends were, Pepper—and figured it was time to let Bucky know that Steve had accidentally outed him.

As much as he did not want to have this conversation, he knew Bruce was right. It would be wrong of him to keep this a secret.

* * *

_Master Stark is requesting entrance._

Bucky glared at the ceiling. “He never asks.”

_He wishes to remind you that usually, you are adults._

**He’ll smell the nest.**

Bucky rolled his eyes at the voice, which reminded him. “What should I call you?”

**The asset does not need a name.**

“I’m not calling you that.”

**Natasha said I was Winter Soldier.**

“Winter, then. My favorite season.” He shook Steve awake and motioned to the door.

**Because Steve cuddled us.**

Bucky refused to admit that _yes,_ he always loved winter because he didn’t have to share Steve with anyone else. He crawled out of his nest and fixed his clothes as Tony was pacing in the hallway. That was not a good sign. Bucky hated that he knew it wasn’t, but couldn’t explain why. He just knew.

“Where’s Steve?”

“Either he fell back asleep, or he’ll be out soon.”

Tony nodded and paced a bit more. “We’re just going to make you an entirely new arm. Shuri said you didn’t want one before, but, we agree, there’s no way to fix the one you have. Had? Had. I retooled a good third of it, but I realized, and Shuri agreed, that there’s nothing that will be left because I was literally retooling the entire arm piece by piece. And honestly, at that point, I am pretty sure it’s a new arm anyways? Right? So why not just destroy the old design — hey, destruction. We can use the new arm to destroy the old one. Goodbye memories, right? Yes, so. No more issues with the cold or the cleaning. I might even make you a little tool to help. Dum-E and U would help, but I’m pretty sure that spraying you down with a fire extinguisher would make the arm less functional and not clean it. Not that it wasn’t dysfunctional before.”

**Did he breathe at all?**

Bucky snorted. “Nope.”

“Oh,” Tony looked panicked, “I can tell Shuri—”

“No, not you. Uh,” Bucky tapped his temple with a grimace. “Winter.”

“Right. That. Oh fuck, you don’t need more stress right now.”

Bucky shrugged. “Got a feeling we never much have the luxury of avoiding stress?”

Tony sighed. “Not really, no.”

“Then bring it on.”

Steve cracked open the door at that, and Tony’s face pinched up again. “Let’s sit?”

**This is not good.**

Bucky had a feeling Winter was right. Steve yawned and curled up on the couch, almost falling asleep again before Tony had worked up the courage to sit. Bucky pulled Steve against him and tried to look relaxed enough to make Tony talk.

“I know we talked about how we were dating.”

Bucky nodded, he knew that before the discussion, but Stevie had gone wide-eyed and blushed over Tony. He had a type, after all: sarcastic and brunet.

“Well, it seems like we had a ways to go on the whole _learning each other’s secrets_ bit.”

Steve got really tense next to Bucky, and Bucky matched him. He couldn’t be planning to tell Steve, could he? Steve didn’t need to know that Winter was tagging along.

“And I want you to know this changes nothing for me.”

**Of course it doesn’t. He’ll still have Steve.**

Bucky just hoped he’d get that arm and get old again first. He could survive alone, but not having both arms would mean a disadvantage to all his training, and having to grow up again would be obnoxious. He wished he had his other arm right now to get one final good hug before Steve discovered he was a monster.

“I— Steve mentioned you having a nest and, well, that was news for me.”

Bucky’s nose burnt at the panic in Steve’s scent before the words sunk in.

**Omega is no good. Eliminate the danger.**

“Bucky,” Steve whispered, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. I swear.”

**No one can know.**

_“Steve knows,”_ Bucky thought as he closed his eyes and tried to imagine actually hunting down Winter in his mind for this conversation.

**No one can know.**

“I thought he would know!”

Bucky clenched his fist and did his best to respond, projecting every bit of conviction he could calmly. _“Steve knows. And now Tony knows. And we are fine.”_

**Omegas are no good.**

“You’re an omega, too, bud. So lay off the ‘no good’ talk because you can’t just will away the slick and heats.”

There was an odd sound next to him, and when he opened his eyes, Steve looked concerned, and Tony was staring down at his hands. He glanced between his boyfriends and knew something neither of them did. He had spent years hiding with illegal suppressants to get into the army; then Hydra had loaded him up with more. He had one heat alone with Steve after waking up… and in the afterglow of the heat, he and Steve had decided it was time to tell Tony and ask him out. Steve wouldn’t remember that, though.

“Well,” he smiled, “wasn’t like you wouldn’t figure out once we hopped in bed anyways.”

Steve still looked worried, so Bucky snuggled closer to him and then wiggled his hand towards Tony. “Maybe we can all nap? I’d love to have your scent for my nest too now that you know, ‘stead of just a stolen shirt.”

Tony nodded and stood up, awkwardly climbing behind Bucky on the couch and finding a movie for them to watch while they fell asleep.

**This is danger.**

Bucky ignored him. If anyone or anything was ‘danger,’ it was the murderer in his head. Everyone needed cuddles. Packs cuddled all the time.

**We aren’t a pack.**

_“We are mates. Pack is everyone else. You’ll learn.”_ He could picture the man from flickers of reflections from the worst memories standing in front of him this time. _“You already trust Natasha, Steve, and Tony. The rest will come.”_

**We aren’t a pack.**

Bucky curled closer to Tony and let himself fall asleep.

They would be.

* * *

Shuri was waiting for Tony when he got back to his lab.

“I take it you have sorted things?”

“As much as I can for now. Who knows what happens when they grow up again.”

“Have you determined—”

“No,” Tony cut her off, “We have nothing. Strange had nothing. Thor just smiled and explained his brother and mother were the seider masters, and he wasn’t touched with the gift. I have no clue _why_ I have boyfriends who are not even ten yet. I can’t explain why one remembers shit, and the other doesn’t. And I don’t even know why they can cope with the modern world!”

She gave him a look, and in that one response, all his relaxation was gone. He couldn’t fight magic.

“You said you have the spells?”

Tony pulled them up on the screen and played back the video from his mask.

“Well, that is interesting.”

“What. What do you see?”

“It was a gift.”

Tony reminded himself that threatening royalty never ended well. “I don’t see how the fuck this is a gift.”

“Here,” she pulled up a line, “Both spells are meant to give you a fresh start.”

“I —” Tony re-read the line, “How did we not see this?”

Shuri laughed. “Because you men are brutes. Never pausing for the poetry or cadence of the spoken word. You would get much further if you took time for it.”

“I would get further if I had access to vibranium my whole life,” Tony grumbled back.

Shuri laughed. “You would still not be me.”

Tony let out a huff and played through the footage again. The attack… wasn’t an attack. Sure they flung around magic, but no one seemed _hurt._ JARVIS was patching together translations as best he could, but there were gaps.

“It seems they were not invading, no?”

Tony slammed his fist down. “I didn’t need the damn gift.”

She laughed again and motioned to the arm. “I am sure you will enjoy the perks.”

He ignored her and sent the discovery to Stephen to make sure the other people that had been hit were properly alerted of the ‘positive intentions’ of the aliens. As if that would matter to people who had their lives completely upended by this. He made a note to check on their situations and offer financial assistance in case any were left without.

Shuri was teaching him to craft with the metal that broke all his tools throughout the evening, Tony doing his best not to curse until she laughed and told him not to hold his tongue just because she was there. The work went quicker with the tech Shuri brought, and Tony insisted the swearing helped him learn.

It would be a few days of work to get everything finished; then, she’d need to stick around or come back to help the new arm attach properly.

Stephen had waltzed into the compound and started to ramble at him the next morning, and if Tony typically had no patience for the magician, being in the middle of a new project that he had no control of the outcome only made it worse. The problem with trying to lock Strange out of anywhere was his magic.

JARVIS could do nothing to block entry, and the sparks were starting to get annoying.

He finally stopped and tried to have an adult conversation with the man at around three in the morning.

“I don’t know how you are so calm.”

Tony waved his hands around the shop. “Yeah. Definitely calm.”

“I can’t say I see much of a difference from your normal clutter.”

Tony clenched his jaw.

“Did you not look closely? There’s a chance neither of them will end up with the serum kicking back in!”

Shuri cleared her throat. “I am sure we can deal with that _if_ it happens. I do not think you will have them at this age for long.”

Stephen stepped forward and looked over the screen with the spells. “How do you figure?”

“Well,” she motioned to the screen, “what would the point of a fresh start be if they stay that age?”

Tony reread the line _Veils lift, and things start anew, a break repaired before it shatters._ He shakes his head and decides to focus on the arm; magic never will make sense to him.

“But,” Stephen pulls up another line, “are we ignoring this? There are no protections in this. How do we know it wasn’t a way to weaken our heroes? And why the line of James’ spell for cohabitation?”

“Doctor Strange, I know you see beyond this world. Look harder.”

“Nonsense. It,” he squinted, “says nothing.”

“You felt that way about the spell as a whole,” Shuri reminded, “and yet, the clues are there. It is a gift. If it was meant to harm, the boys would be trapped in a world they could not hope to understand. They were thanking our world for their own existence.”

“But, we have never seen this species.”

Shuri laughed. “We do not need to see the air within plants changing to sustain our life, but it does so, without need to survey our bodies.”

“You’re suggesting our mere existence saved them?”

Shuri shrugged. “Of all you have seen, is this where you stop believing again?”

* * *

Steve had decided to drag Bucky outside because he wanted hotdogs. Bucky insisted it was not necessary, because he could just order them or have JARVIS alert them when a cart was closer — but _no,_ Steve wanted hot dogs from the pier. Bucky knew it wasn’t the same pier, but Steve didn’t seem to care. Bucky’s heart ached as he remembered the last time they talked so much about hotdogs. He was stuck trying to pull up memories that felt like they weren’t his own.

**Because they weren’t.**

Bucky flinched.

**Hydra tied us together. We are now apart.**

_Yeah, yet you’re still kicking around in me,_ Bucky thought.

**I am.**

Bucky sighed. Steve was next to him, taking in the city like it was all new. It was nice to see Steve like this, carefree and happy. He’s not sure that Steve was ever this happy growing up. There was always something hanging over them, usually lack of funds, and now they were headed to the pier with all the money in the world.

The city was a different experience from when he was actually a kid. They weren’t dressed in hand-me-downs that were on their fourth family already, carefully counting pennies and nickels to make sure they had enough for a few games and some ice cream if they had a good week.

No, this time they were armed with Tony’s money, able to do whatever they wanted.

Steve was running around and throwing money at all the street performers, happily dumping more into their hats in one go than they had gotten all morning so far. Bucky just sat back and smiled, watching one of the women who had three ferrets doing tricks in a contraption she led them through with treats. Steve tipped her extra, saying it was for making Bucky smile; she let Bucky pet the white one after that.

When Bucky got home, he started watching some videos online and decided that ferrets were definitely the coolest animal ever.

The next day, the Avengers alarm sounded, and Bucky was halfway to his gear before he realized that he couldn’t fight. Unfortunately, Steve had no clue what the alarm was and worked himself into a panic attack that ended with him needing an inhaler — which no one seemed to have. He tried to remember things to help, screaming at JARVIS to remind them to get Steve’s old medicines. JARVIS walked him through sitting Steve up and encouraging deep breaths, Bucky holding him in place and making Steve breathe with him.

Bucky thought these days were over.

He never thought he’d be watching Steve gasping for breath again, and his heart was shattering worse than it used to now that he knew Steve didn’t have to suffer. Steve, luckily, didn’t remember and was teasing Bucky for acting like it was some big deal.

“Geez, Buck, you’d think I hadn’t had these attacks weekly.”

**He hasn’t.**

“Relax, will ya? I’m fine now.”

“Oh yeah, punk, really fine. We’re going to the doctors as soon as we can and getting you what you need.”

“Because docs will know how to deal with a magically de-aged kid that may or may not grow up in a couple of days? C’mon, Buck. You know as well as I do that if we call for an eight-year-old and show up looking fourteen… there will be questions we can’t answer.”

And, yeah, of _course_ Bucky knew that. Tony had explained it to both of them, in great detail. Steve and Bucky couldn’t say who they were—not that Tony had really explained much to Steve, who had no clue he was Captain fucking America—and they were to keep under the radar.

Which meant that if Steve needed more help, it was down to the Tony-vetted SHIELD doctors.

**We should vet them, too.**

_With what resources exactly, Winter?_

**It’s Stevie. We will figure it out.**

And, well, that was true. Bucky had always managed when it came to Steve, and Steve was the one that got Winter out too. Years of torture broke free because Steve made it happen. Bucky knew that their little _end of the line_ comment was true. They had both been through hell.

The next alarm was just as Earth-shattering to Bucky, but not to the rest of the world. Steve had not been dealing well with the growth spurts — specifically, his lungs hadn’t been dealing with it. Steve refused to be cautious or carry around his medicines, so it wasn’t a shock when he got himself sick enough to scare them.

He was currently scowling at them from the hospital bed they had dragged up to Bucky’s room.

“I’m fine.”

Bucky clenched his jaw. “You collapsed because you laughed too hard, Stevie.”

* * *

Tony probably could have been more subtle, but Steve refused to stop using the stairs or working out despite doctor’s orders to rest for a few days, so he decided to repaint every single step in the compound as well as the full training area. He only slightly regretted the cold shoulder he was getting from Steve when he explained the paint would need a full week to cure since technically it was a layer of colored concrete.

Steve was mad at basically everyone, though. As he slowly grew again, people were treating him like glass — and he hated it. Tony tried to talk to them to be slightly less careful, but it backfired when Steve overheard and stormed out.

Steve was apparently happy to use his small size to hide.

Bucky was the only one who knew his tricks, and he hunted down the small Alpha and dragged him back to hide in the nest. Steve was just as bad growing up the second time, plagued with cramps, pain, and panic attacks. Bucky was just as heartbroken this time, offering massages and cuddles again, and Winter was constantly trying to threaten everyone who couldn't help.

JARVIS was playing them YouTube videos whenever Steve was asleep, and Bucky was unable to close his eyes. One good thing about having Winter in his head was knowing that his lack of sleep wasn’t going to kill him. Ferret videos were a favorite for them both, and Steve seemed happy to wake up to the wiggly creatures on screen.

Winter also helped him function while fatigued, slowly adjusting his speech to match Bucky’s. It was disappointing how few people realized there was an issue, though. Steve was too busy yelling at everyone else for babying him to really have a conversation with Bucky, so Tony was the only one who could tell when he was talking to Winter.

They spent more and more time curled up together on the couches, especially as they hit pseudo-cycles and started to feel clingy. One of Steve’s cycles had seen him growling at Clint for passing Tony a water. Steve had been mortified, even if everyone else thought it was adorable.

The older they got, the more relaxed everyone was with them, treating them less like spun sugar. Clint had even sparred with them a few times now that they looked like adults, even if Steve was still smaller than they had ever known him to be. Bucky loved being able to hold Steve like this; he thought he’d never get to again after the serum.

By the end of the month, Winter had commented more than once that he missed the cryo chamber — he really wanted to sleep through the growth spurts and grumpiness. Bruce had assured them all that it wasn’t an option because cryo was specifically designed to suspend cell degeneration, but that also meant cell growth and regeneration would simply stop.

Tony was pacing, again, and Bucky was pretty sure that was bad news.

“Okay,” Bucky forced Tony onto the couch and stood in front of him, “We’re going to talk. Now. And then we’re going to sleep because Stevie looks dead on his feet.”

“Rude.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow and looked back at Tony.

“Well, you know how Shuri and Stephen have been working together?”

Bucky nodded.

“We’re not sure if the serum was a one-time thing or if it will come back when you’re at the right ages. We don’t know at all how yours will go, Bucky, but we’re pretty sure Steve will be fine. It just might be slightly more painful this time. Something about pain making you who you are or whatever.”

Steve was likely remembering the film roll of him screaming in the VitaRay chamber. “I doubt it could be.”

Tony cringed. “Steve, last time you were prepared for it. You could relax, mentally block it out, and it was not accelerated in the way your current growth has been. We need to give you antibiotics just in case the serum _does_ kick in. Dad’s notes weren’t much but with what I have and the knowledge he left in other projects; I know we lost a lot of Erskine’s research, but I know we also have blood samples from when you were— well, I’m sure that between that, Bruce, and extremis, we’ll get you sorted.”

Steve looked at his hands. “I— do you not like me like this?”

“WHAT?” Tony choked out in shock.

“Well, you seem awfully focused on me—”

Tony slapped a hand over Steve’s mouth. “I know you don’t remember, I know. But Steve, I promise before this happened, I was well on my way to being in love with you and Bucky. And when I thought I lost you, I realized I loved you already. I don’t know when, but it was crushing to think I would lose either of you. I haven’t only been focusing on you, either. It’s just. I can make Bucky a new arm, and I can make sure he’s comfortable for all his heats. But I can’t just… give you new lungs.”

Steve looked down. “Whatever happens, I’m ready.”

“Bucky, will you be?”

Bucky clenched his jaw — looking more and more like the man they rescued a year ago every hour. “Kinda don’t got a choice, do I?”

**Well—**

Bucky shut down the option he was sure Winter would suggest.

He should probably tell Steve about Winter and the danger that he knew was coming. He should warn them that he already made Bruce promise that as soon as Steve was in recovery from the serum (or past the age it should kick in), he was going into Bruce’s reinforced bunker and not coming out until he was sure Bucky still existed. And if he ceased to exist — well, a weapon was still a weapon, and Wakanda had the technology needed to keep him operational.

Bucky wanted one night to hold on to just in case he didn’t make it through to the other side. He decided that until Steve went through the serum, or not, he would keep both his mates in his nest.

Now that he was back to his normal height, Steve and Tony were happy to each curl into his sides, not that he had hated Tony being in the middle, it just soothed his omega more to be sandwiched between his Alphas.

Steve started screaming at 3:31 in the morning.

Where the growth spurts had left Steve (and Winter) grumpy and sore, this seemed to be like he was being ripped apart by hell hounds. Tony had his gauntlet ready to attack before he fully processed the issue.

**FIX HIM!**

“We can’t,” Bucky growled, “we just gotta wait this out.”

Tony went to ask, but Bucky just tapped his temple.

“Stevie, deep breaths.”

“I AM!”

Bucky did his best to rub Steve’s muscles as they spasmed and shook. It was shocking to watch Steve grow so rapidly. Steve was sweating and gritting his teeth and repeating how he could still do it. Bucky knew now that they were right — all the pain that changed him would hit him, and his body would somehow cope.

It was over by 3:33 AM.

Captain America had returned, kissed them both, and passed out. Bucky shifted him to the center, curling into his side and talking with Tony until he fell asleep too. It was hard to understand—issues with upcoming product releases for work—but Bucky still smiled through them all.

Bucky could feel the pain from the first injections by four, slipping from the room and paging Bruce. He didn’t bother changing or grabbing anything for comfort. He didn’t need anything soaking up the despair the rest of his journey would cause.

He didn’t need to wait long for Bruce once he crossed the lawn to the Hulk-proofed bunker. Bruce didn’t bother trying to talk him out of it again. He was collapsed in front of the door from the pain of hitting the ground after the train fall. The arm pain tore through him as the final lock slid shut, and Bruce walked away. Bucky knelt in the center of the room and waited. This was only going to get worse.

**Order comes through pain.**

“I’m well aware of that bullshit.”

Bucky could feel the first surgery on his arm, and his body rejecting it. He remembered them taunting him with offered drugs — drugs he knew now would never work. They never did. The pain never worked either.

**At least they didn’t waste time on it.**

“Yeah. Gave up pretty fast.”

**Should be done by dawn.**

Bucky ran the numbers. One month, thirty days, covering just over ten years. Six days per hour so far, but the magicians had insisted the final stages would be exponentially faster. Something about suspended cell growth from the ice and cryo, meaning the spell had nothing to do. But it was a _best guess_ kind of thing — they had no way of knowing for sure if it would be the two days they’d guessed or more.

**Three hours to sunrise.**

“And what, seven to daybreak?”

Winter tried to force his way into control as the pain hit. Too bad these were Bucky’s memories alone. All of them would be until they locked _freight car_ into place in his brain. He had run the numbers, alright, and he had thirteen hours of pain ahead of him, then day of Winter. And Stevie had a day and a half of sleep and freezing. He was wondering if Steve would be just as cold this time around or if he’d be okay when the first wave of pain rolled through his body.

He gave up on staying upright when the screaming made him dizzy. Winter wasn’t doing much better in his head and Bucky wondered how much the memory of electricity running through him had sent Winter into the chair.

He could feel the ghosts of his cycles through the pain, the shame of their treatment.

**Hide the nest. Omega is no good.**

“Yeah, bud. I know. There’s no nest for them to destroy this time, Winter. Promise.”

Bucky’s stomach felt like it was being torn apart as that particular method of pain rolled through. No nest, no comfort, no partner, no real shelter. Bucky curled up just like he had back then. He remembered Stevie then, too; his voice gently whispering how Bucky was a perfect omega even if he couldn’t show anyone else.

Bucky tried to cling onto that memory as the pain increased.

**Sleep.**

“I can’t, Winter.”

**Please, sleep.**

Bucky shook his head as the echoes of the second surgery on his arm dug into his shoulder. He stared at the capped limb and tried to force his body to accept that the pain wasn’t real. He failed.

The sun rising was an amazing relief for him. He knew that he had a few precious minutes of recovery before the part he feared. It just figured that if this was his final moments of being Bucky, he’d be in just as much pain as he had been when Winter came into existence the first time. He could feel the moment their ‘training’ began. His whole body lit up in pain, every single nerve feeling sliced open.

**Longing.**

“I remember.”

**Do you?**

Bucky snarled at the thought. “Of course I do.”

**No. Remember what they said. Not what you felt.**

And Bucky closed his eyes, trying to pull it out but nothing came. He just remembered the cycling memory playing in his head of Steve—a small, freshly presented Steve—showing up to his parents house in his Sunday best. Steve had insisted on carefully presenting himself as an eligible Alpha, only to have Rebecca muss up his hair and toss him at Bucky with a laugh.

**No. That’s what they corrupted.**

Bucky’s vision was drifting. The smile on Steve’s face fading to the cold smirk of his handlers. “NO!”

**Yes. Learn this time.**

_“Pathetic omega. Too busy chasing a knot to escape. No one could even stand your stench to offer you a fuck for your heat.”_

_“No,” Bucky felt ripped from his lips, “no—”_

_“Pathetic omega,_ _longing_ _for an alpha who is too disgusted with him to bother showing up.”_

Bucky screamed. “No! No no no!”

**Words have no power when you destroy them. Remember what the Princess taught us.**

Bucky tried, but everything felt wrong. Steve and Tony couldn’t want him. No one did. He was never meant to be an omega. He looked wrong, acted wrong, smelled wrong. It was so easy to pass as Alpha. But he just wanted to be a good omega, a wonderful omega, a handsome omega. Maybe one day, a mated one.

Tears fell down his cheeks as the next memory rolled over him.

He could feel the rusted bar in his palm while Steve cheered next to him. He could see the ball floating as he tossed it at the weighted bottles. The rust crunched as Bucky watched them all fall.

 _“Bet you’re wishing that sad little Alpha would burst right through that_ _rusted_ _door. He might have been a successful test, but Schmidt was the true Super Soldier. Hail Hydra.”_

_Bucky could see the metal plates in his arm shifting as his brain started to fall under. He still screamed no — or he thought he did anyway. It was so fuzzy. The man just kept repeating it. How Bucky must be longing for someone to come through the rusted door. He didn’t know a Stevie, though._

**SNAP OUT OF IT. This is how you fail.**

Bucky snorted and tried to sit up, starting to crawl towards the bed against the wall. “I always fail.”

He knew what was next. He could spend an entire lifetime preparing and still not be okay with it, so he fought the pressing memory. Seventeen. The year he almost watched Steve die in his arms. That winter sucked. It had started with a simple cough and then that god-awful sound had started. Sarah had let Bucky stay by Steve’s side through it because he had already been exposed and if he ended up sick, they’d be rooming together anyways.

Bucky remembered the coughing fits and trying to hold Steve as much as he could, he remembered wiping away the sweat and tears when the coughing stopped. He remembered the worst days where Steve’s muscles had been so bad that Bucky had to help him eat and they both pretended it was for Bucky’s benefit more than Steve’s.

**But that’s not what they thought.**

“No.” Bucky responded. They did manage to destroy him, but their taunts were almost always wrong.

He held in a scream as the pain echoed through him again. The chair was awful especially during programming. Well, maybe it was just as bad after but Bucky wasn’t the one suffering then. Maybe after this was over he could compare notes with Winter.

He could feel the memories trying do drag through his mind, but he had no reason to give in right now. Not when he could still close his eyes to see Steve coughing and collapsing in his arms. That moment that the cough finally broke was incredible to Bucky. Steve was exhausted, but alive.

Bucky wondered if this was exactly how Steve felt in that memory.

**Are you giving up?**

“No.”

**Good.**

Bucky let the statements of his first handler wash over him. This time he fought the feeling of hearing the words.

 _“You left behind your mate when he was_ _seventeen._ _What would he think now?”_

**What would he think?**

“They both would be proud.”

Bucky hated how much the pain was so deeply ingrained in his changes. He wished just one of these wouldn’t rip through every cell of his being and rearrange them. This time he sought out the memory first. Of all their mistakes, this was the farthest off. _Daybreak_ was the name of their favorite car on the rollercoaster. They would let people cut in line to make sure every time they rode, it would be on the daybreak train instead of the midnight train.

Hydra had chosen words through torture. He was beaten, starved, prodded, and kept awake until he was an incoherent mess. He was a pile of raw edges rambling on about everything and nothing. They’d shout questions and threats and transform his responses into trigger words. As he was being programmed, Zola had gleefully explained how it would craft his very core, making him the perfect weapon for them. He seemed so proud of his new creation, but unlike Stevie, he knew he came out of the process corrupt.

This word they thought was only pain for him.

 _“_ _Daybreak_ _saw you alone in the snow. We saved you.”_

That word is what let him recognize Steve on the bridge. It was the weak link.

They should have noticed it — the words they didn’t link to Steve from his memories. It made them stand out to him. Hydra failed in thinking that they were in any way important to him. That seemed to be their fatal flaw in everything: an insurmountable blind spot as to their relevance.

Furnace seemed so simple to him, memories of dragging Steve into his nest on cold nights because even as small as he was, Steve ran hot.

 _They circled him and smiled. “We brought you in from the ice. Our Winter Soldier thawed in front of the_ _furnace._ _”_

_Bucky remembers the burning of that thaw, and of every thaw after it. He hated the feeling of his blood warming him again._

**I hate the feeling of blood on my hands.**

Bucky snorted and shook his head. “Me too. But there’s always a fight.”

Winter stayed quiet after that. Bucky tried to catch a few minutes rest before the next round of pain kicked in. The arm would finally stop hurting after this, but.

But.

Of all the memories, this one hurt the most. He knew that this was the one that broke him down the most, even before they strapped him into the chair. _Nine._ How old he was when everyone decided to start telling him how awful omegas were and how much more he could do in life if he pretended to be an Alpha.

He couldn’t have known when his ma sat him down to discuss his options just how much it would hurt. Coming back to the docks after ‘helping someone through their heat’ and hearing about how ‘she’ smelled slutty and they bet ‘she’ was begging for his knot the whole time.

The way they talked about omegas always turned Bucky’s stomach.

It was none of their business how much he had begged for Stevie’s knot — because when he turned nine, they scraped together enough money to pay a doctor to forge his papers. To the world, James Buchanan Barnes was worthless as an omega.

So he agreed to be an Alpha.

He could work, he could serve, he could make a life for them. He could save up enough to move Steve out to the country where no one would question him hiding if they ever had kids.

No one could have guessed a child born from an end of war celebration would be called to another war overseas as soon as he came of age. Somehow the years of fake documents had been enough to convince the draft doctors that Bucky was an Alpha ready for deployment while Steve was denied time and time again.

 _“_ _Nine_ _weeks is all it took for us to break you down. Pathetic Omega.”_

_Bucky had tried to argue around the hunk of rubber in his mouth. He wasn’t broken. HE was still just as ready to fight. The pain ripped through him again. He couldn’t wait to be dumped back into his nest. Even drenched heavily in fear and pain scents, that nest held him together._

_He hoped that Rebecca was happier with her choice._

_Another wave of electricity and pain ripped through him and he started to lose grip on what Rebecca’s choice had been. The pain kept coming and by the time he got dumped into his room, he couldn’t remember who Rebecca even was._

_The next day, they repeated all the terrible things, laughing as he screamed with each wave of electricity._

_“Pathetic omega,_ _longing_ _for an alpha who is too disgusted with him to bother showing up.”_

_Pain._

_“Bet you’re wishing that sad little Alpha would burst right through that_ _rusted_ _door.”_

_Pieces of his memories ripped away._

_“You left behind your mate when he was_ _seventeen_ _.”_

_Who was his mate?_

_“_ _Daybreak_ _saw you alone in the snow. We saved you.”_

_Screaming._

_“Our Winter Soldier thawed in front of the_ _furnace._ _”_

_Crying when his voice gave out._

_“_ _Nine_ _weeks is all it took for us to break you down. Pathetic Omega.”_

_The final wave of pain was the worst. It didn’t end until he passed out. When he woke up, they had destroyed what little nest he had managed to build up._

**Remember.**

“I don’t want to.”

**If you forget, Princess can not help us again.**

“She did last time.”

**I didn’t exist. She—**

Bucky waited for Winter to continue but the next wave of pain silenced him. His brain was flooded with memories of coming home and trying to hide various cuts and bruises from their moms.

They never managed to hide their fights from either of their parents, but that didn’t stop them from crawling in through the fire escape and hiding in their nest.

_“You boys are going to be the death of me.”_

_“Ma, look at him. Stevie is an angel!”_

_"If only his temperament were as benign as his appearance, I wouldn't need to be fixin' split lips every week."_

Bucky laughed right as the memory shifted to his handler, telling him that he was transforming from what he was to what he would be. Winter stayed quiet as Bucky did his best to rub out the tenseness in his thighs, the phantom electricity wearing on his muscles.

“Three left.”

**Three.**

“I’m hanging in there.”

**I know.**

Bucky curled onto his side and wondered if this whole process would make Winter more or less real.

_Bucky was holding a small Steve in his arms, nose buried against Steve’s neck._

_“Buck, ‘s it time already?”_

_“Nope, go back to sleep. Just need you close for now.”_

_“Kay, lemme know when you’re ready.”_

_Bucky knew in that moment that no matter where they ended up, scenting Stevie would always feel like coming home._

_When he was rescued, that scent filled his nose and he knew he was home again._

_A slap landed on his cheek. “Wake up. Are you dreaming of some fancy_ _homecoming_ _? Your Alpha won’t want you like this.”_

_The room had been sterilized and he was left with a single blanket and pillow. The lingering scent of Steve was gone, now, and he was ushered to the shower. They scrubbed him clean and wrapped him in a new shirt and pants, and with that he had no hope of smelling Steve’s pine scent anymore._

_All that was left was his own burnt oil of distress and pain. He missed— something. He couldn’t remember his own scent._

Bucky sniffed the air and cringed, this room smelled almost like that one had, but the Hulk’s scent is helping keep him in this year. He focused on the smell of dirt and rain and tried to talk to Winter.

“Two more then it’s your turn.”

**Yeah. Great.**

“Not sure it’s actually helpful since it will still be my body.”

**Yeah. Can’t ignore it like me.**

“Ehhhh. I can pretend it’ll get better.”

**Whatever, James.**

Bucky was ready to correct him when the training started up again.

 _“Not even_ _one_ _month and your Alpha kills himself. Guess your ass was as good as it looks. Maybe you’ll let us try soon.”_

_“No. You’re lying.”_

_Bucky was hit across the face with a paper and then it was dropped in his lap. CAPTAIN AMERICA CRASHES PLANE AND SAVES NEW YORK._

_“No,” Bucky sobs._

_“Yes. He’s dead, and you’re ours.”_

Bucky screamed at that memory. He had thought Steve was dead. And nothing ever felt, well, he never felt anything again. Not until the fight on the bridge when his mask flew off and the smell of pine ripped into him.

He had already relived the fall once and he was not looking forward to the memory while the pain still lingered. He tried to fall asleep and hope he could miss most of that, curling around himself and wishing that Steve would be there.

Bucky woke up screaming, the memory of a man leaning over him saying, _Order comes through pain._

_He was being dragged through the snow, staring down to the wrist where his hand used to be. Everything hurt, but he knew it should have been more. He should be dead, instead his body was patching him back together. But the hand was apparently too much to ask for, he supposed. Bucky was losing everything. Each time he was pressed into the chair, more of the memories fell away._

_“Fallen from your mate’s grasp on the side of a_ _freight train_ _. And now, you belong to us.”_

_The sentences, the memories, the pain._

_Dragged and dropped on a thin mattress. He missed Steve._

_The sentences, broken memories, grasping onto details, more pain._

_Cleaned off and left to pass out in pain. He felt someone should have been in his arms._

_The sentences. Who is his mate? Did he have an Alpha? More pain._

_The Asset was dropped into his room each day. Order comes through pain._

_Broken sentences. Worthless omegas don’t have mates. Order comes through pain.._

_Order comes through pain._

_Words._

_Order comes through pain._

_Longing._

_Rusted._

_Furnace._

_Daybreak._

_Seventeen._

_Benign._

_Nine._

_Homecoming._

_One._

_Freight car._

“Ready to comply,” Bucky rasped out, tears pouring down his face.

But he wasn’t — he never would be again. Even as the words screamed through his head, he was free.

“Winter?”

**James.**

“If you’re sticking around, call me Bucky.”

He could feel his own laugh reverberating through him, and suddenly it made sense why Steve and Tony always followed behind him when he laughed.

**No way.**

Bucky collapsed and smiled even with all his pain. He was not the asset anymore. There was no more weapon. He was just Bucky and Winter now. And they were free. Well, they would be… once Winter relieved his issues.

There was remarkably less pain as the timeline rushed forward to meet today. Blood, pain, murder. They both hurt remembering every single person, every mission, every assignment, every handler. Winter was swearing in every language he knew throughout it all. And then their final mission was met with silence.

_Kill Captain America._

Everything from the mask ripping off and everything rushing back to him. Watching the Alpha... his mate, his Stevie… kneeling and handcuffed. The confusion of why the Asset had a mate. Then, he remembered the chair that day, and how he pretended he forgot Steve when they pulled him out to send him back after Steve. He could remember _something_ at least, and it was all he could cling to.

The fight with the Alpha was hard. His brain was battling between _mission: kill_ and _mission: protect._

Then, gloriously, the suffering was done. He knew it was near dusk, but there was no way to orient how long he had been in and out of mission memories. They really had killed a lot of people.

**James?**

“Uh huh.”

**Who will come get us?**

Bucky let out a breath and shifted on the mattress. “I guess Bruce.”

**You didn’t think to set this up.**

“Nope,” Bucky responded, “I wasn’t sure _I’d_ be coming out of it. And I didn’t want Tony and Stevie arguing with me to stay.”

**We’re going to have to deal with it later.**

“Like Steve said: I’m not looking for forgiveness and I’m way past asking for permission.”

**I’m not sure he’ll agree.**

Bucky snorted. “We both know he definitely will not agree. I’m pretty shocked he wasn’t banging down the door already.”

**He was frozen seventy years.**

“Yeah. True. Probably not much good, all hypothermic.”

There was a grunt of agreement and Bucky made himself comfortable for the wait. He drifted asleep before a sound gently lulled him awake. JARVIS apparently had access here because the AI was blocking the sound of the door being knocked on with the time and place they were in. Bucky briefly wondered if every resident of the compound had some form of PTSD.

Standing at the door was Natasha, with Steve, Tony, and Bruce behind her.

He supposed this was the obvious outcome. Nat would test him and the others would bring him to heel if need be. He was ready, hopefully.

**Go. Get it over with.**

Bucky walked up to the door, looking at the speaker next to it. He took a deep breath and pressed the button. “Get it over with.”

Natasha gave one short nod before starting. “Longing. Rusted. Furnace. Daybreak. Seventeen. Benign. Nine. Homecoming. One. Freight car.”

Bucky looked them each in the eyes before he smiled.

Natasha stopped Bruce from opening the door and repeated the words in Russian. Bucky didn’t stop smiling the whole time. He was still free. She let Bruce open the door and walked up to look him in the eyes before pulling him into a tight hug and walking back to the main compound along with Bruce.

Tony and Steve’s scents poured in and he put his hand out towards them. “I know you’re mad, but can I get clean and sleep before the lecture?”

Steve took a breath and Bucky was sure he wouldn’t listen.

“Of course,” Tony said as he _gently_ stomped on Steve’s foot, “We wouldn’t want our omega to keep smelling so stressed.”

That made Steve stop and take in a breath, cringing and backing away from the open door. “Yeah, let’s. Yeah.”

Bucky went to laugh, but his body still hurt. “Please tell me you’re still a giant ice pack.”

“I’ve warmed up a bit, punk.”

“Shame.”

**We should be armed.**

Tony didn’t seem to be as put off by Bucky’s scent, fussing over him as they walked back to the main building.

“Why the hell did it have to hurt?”

“Well, I suppose it has to—” Tony paused and looked over to Bucky, “I can’t tell if that was rhetorical.”

Bucky shrugged and winced.

“Because magic sucks and we should ignore it for science.”

Bucky offered a half smile and pulled Tony into his side, breathing in his scent. It soothed his Omega and had Winter calming down in his mind too. He’d need to tell Steve about Winter soon. But for now, he just wanted a shower and their nest. Steve came up to his other side and Bucky missed his metal arm because he wanted to hold them both.

“I think I want a pet.”

“I will buy you a hundred, just name your breed.”

“Definitely ferrets.”

“Maybe not a hundred then. Might start rumors.”

Bucky laughed and he really, really wished their first shower together was more fun. Instead, Steve and Bucky made sure the other was okay, and Tony weaved between them and helped make sure they successfully cleaned up. After, Bucky fell asleep quickly when he was pressed in between his Alphas in the nest.

* * *

Steve was sitting at the table waiting for his mates to wake up. Bruce had already lectured them about being too harsh with Bucky. He had a lot of his own issues to sort, but to know that Bucky had made a decision like that… It didn’t sit right with how Steve had felt.

Bucky, his Bucky, the one he grew up with wouldn’t have known what was coming.

Sure, the arm was obvious. And they had known from videos how Steve’s pain would be. But the rest of it — the winter soldier thing. Steve might not have caught the issues as a teenager and younger, assuming his Bucky was just feeling a bit weird from the arm, but as an adult there were obviously things wrong.

He made sure the coffee was made and Bucky’s cream was next to the pot when there was movement from the room. Tony stumbled out first, barely acknowledging Steve’s presence, but Bucky took one look at him and sighed. Bucky didn’t bother sitting at the table when they were done, guiding Tony to the sofa and making sure neither coffee spilled. Steve kept glancing up and Bucky refused to meet his eye, looking down at Tony the whole time.

“Whoa, Capsicle, how long have you been there?”

“The whole time, Tony.”

Tony hummed and sipped more of his coffee. “And why do you look like someone kicked your Bucky?”

_“Hey!”_

“Well, Buck, why would I look like that?”

Bucky finally met his eyes only to break contact and stare up at the ceiling. “It’s first thing in the morning.”

“And yesterday—”

Bucky cut him off with a snort. “Always so impatient.”

Steve stared at Bucky.

“Fine. Ask.”

“What are you hiding? Why did you go to Bruce’s Bunker?”

Bucky snuggled closer to Tony and took a deep breath. “Magic sucks.”

Tony laughed.

“Honestly, Princess explained it and it still made no sense. Somehow with the chair, the Kimoyo beads, and the spell, I ended up remembering everything as mini-me, and the Asset kinda became his own thing in my head.”

Tony shifted and Steve briefly considered calling him over, away from Bucky.

“We named him Winter.”

“And does Winter…” Steve trailed off, not sure what to even ask.

Bucky looked down at his coffee. “Winter is not the Asset. He can’t be ordered around. But he’s kinda got all the Asset’s skills and memories.”

Steve nodded his head.

“But we didn’t know if that would be true,” Bucky continued.

“Why go to Bruce and Nat, though. Why not tell us?”

“I only told Bruce. She figured out I wasn’t right on her own.”

 _“Buck,”_ Steve objected.

“No, I wasn’t. And she noticed. ‘S just what she does. I don’t know why she came yesterday.”

Tony raised his hand. “I know why. Shuri had figured out you had two you’s in your brain, and that this might be an issue. And between her and Nat, it was obvious who we were more comfortable testing your words.”

Tony knew. Tony knew and also didn’t tell him.

“Yeah. I might have been a little less than welcoming to the idea of Princess when she was checking in Wakanda.”

“She said you tried to knock yourself out.”

 _“You what?”_ Steve yelled, looking ready to jump out of his chair.

“Have you _seen_ her, Stevie? Would you think she could fight?”

Tony snorted. “I thought you grew up with Steve.”

“I did?” Bucky confirmed, confused, because Tony already knew that.

“Well, it took until around fifteen for Steve to be bigger than her.”

Steve glared. “That’s not true.”

“JARVIS?”

“Nope! No. No. Thank you, JARVIS, no,” Steve tried to interrupt and stop whatever was about to happen.

It was too late though, JARVIS had pulled up photos of each of them side by side. “And you didn’t think she could fight.”

“When we first met, no. All I saw was a _tiny princess.”_

Steve was still upset that Bucky had hidden the whole secret from them. “Why not let us be there, though? I let you both be there for mine.”

“Stevie,” Bucky pursed his lips, “You knew that _you_ would come out the other end no matter what.”

Steve took a deep breath, ready to argue.

“I had no way of knowing how bad it would be or what it would do with Winter.”

Steve got up and walked over to Bucky and Tony. “We would have—”

“No,” Tony cut him off, “There would have been no choice. Legally we agreed to that. If the Asset returned, we lock him up. And I, with your help, had already crashed my way through one of Bucky’s secrets. I wasn’t about to fuck up another set of boundaries.”

Steve tensed and flitted his eyes between the pair guiltily

“And it just so happens that Jolly Green’s Bedroom has the necessary locks, so we wouldn’t have even needed to move him while we sorted it.”

Steve took a deep breath. “You had this planned?”

“Capsicle, I read the fine print. J reads it after me. I’ve written enough loopholes into things to recognize one. I have back-up plans for a lot of things. Grease lightning over here was just luckily in the right room for his emo-fest.”

With a sigh, Steve requested, “Can you let me know about these kinds of things? It would be nice to know all the plans. I had enough of the behind the scenes double-booked-missions with SHIELD.”

“Sure thing. But. Not a one-coffee kinda discussion,” Tony agreed, and Steve nodded.

“So, are you going to clench at me all day or are we good?” Bucky asked.

“I’m not clenching at you,” Steve muttered.

Tony laughed. “You so are.”

“I just... don’t get why you wanted to be alone.”

Running his fingers through his hair, Bucky sighed. “Honestly, you’d be too soft to stop me.”

“Buck—”

“Yup,” Bucky cut in, “Just like that. Steve… I don’t think you quite grasp how bad the Asset was. I didn’t just have blood on my hands. I was _bathed_ in it. I was forged in the blood of my enemies, my victims. I was made of my own blood and suffering. They broke me in every way they could, and smashed me back together with none of the memories and slightly less of my own body. The Asset was not a human being anymore.”

Tony wrapped his arms around Bucky in silent comfort.

“I went there because I knew that if it came down to it, Wakanda tech could maintain me and you’d be a better handler than anyone in Hydra. I was ready to be the Asset for the good guys. I left that nest because I didn’t want you to watch me disappear in it. I wanted that nest to stay… I wanted to give you two a final blessing from me. My nest.”

Steve dropped to the ground in front of them and wrapped both of his mates in his arms.

“I wanted your last memory of me to be good, if it went wrong.”

“Buck, we would _not_ have let you go. You know I’ve wanted to bond you forever.”

Tony cleared his throat and set his fingers in each of their hair, gently playing with it. “Same. I mean. Once we got past the whole… programming thing. Even then. Kinda dig the whole _snap me like a twig_ vibe you two have.”

* * *

Tony had been talked down from adopting an entire horde of ferrets, purchasing only two for Bucky in the end. One was a Sable hybrid they named Blaster, the other was a dark-eye solid cream colored ferret they named Nico.

Blaster was slightly larger and Peter had declared she was far more meme-able. Nico was happy to stick to the almost mile of tubing Tony had set up throughout the compound, a bit harder to track down to get photos and videos of. There was even a small ferret-shaped bot that helped keep the whole setup clean.

Blaster seemed to crave attention, constantly slinking around on people’s shoulders and making her little chirpy _meows_ at everyone.

Nico liked to sleep in the little cage that was set up in Tony’s room, especially once Bucky and Steve had given up on staying in different rooms.

Bucky had found the girl who got him into ferrets and had her transform the old room into a ferret haven. She was excited to do it, and even more excited when Tony presented her with duplicates of all the toys and materials.

Bucky loved to play-chase them around and let them roll in his hand. Tony had adamantly denied that he instructed JARVIS to make little holographic ferrets for the duo to chase around. He couldn’t deny that the cleaning bot was designed to play as well as clean, though.

When they weren’t entertaining the ferrets, Tony had taken to arranging as many dates as possible. Steve and Bucky stopped counting, but apparently, Tony had a goal of making up for their _years of being blind_ before his rut hit.

He had tried a couple of standard “Tony Stark Experience” dates, where he happily threw money around and made heads turn. He tried renting out restaurants and surprising them with bespoke suits. Those all ended in barely hidden looks of horror from the waitstaff. At least until Bucky had eventually torn a very expensive tie on the way to one of those dates.

“If you don’t stop trying to impress us, I’m not bonding with you!”

“What?” Tony paused in front of the elevator to the garage.

“He’s right, Tony.” Steve looked over to Bucky, loosening his own tie, “This isn’t us.”

“Feels like you think you gotta buy us.”

“And if that’s what you think —” Steve grabbed one of Tony’s hands, “Then you don’t know us well at all.”

Tony deflated. “I’m sorry.”

“Doll,” Bucky pulled in close too, “we aren’t here for your money. We’re here because you have a heart that could hold the world. Has a few times, in fact.”

Tony let himself be pulled into a hug. “Yeah, I’m just used to _this_ being the big draw of me. What’s the point of dating the flighty, weird genius who can be the best at reading a room and the worst at reading the mood at the same time… Who wants the mess, you know?”

“We do,” Steve assured, and kissed his temple.

“So, can we get out of these and order pizza instead?”

“Absolutely.”

Bucky grinned. “Can I be the one to get you out of yours?”

_“Absolutely.”_

Steve shoved them both towards his and Bucky’s room. “Not out here.”

Bucky smirked. “Don’t wanna share anymore?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t much like your flirting before the war, either. But now I can stop you.”

Steve ignored Bucky’s response, herding them into the room and shutting the door behind them. Bucky was doing his best to undress Tony, grumbling about this being easier if he had both hands. Steve slipped behind Tony and started to undo the buttons himself.

“Oooh, a show, I like,” Bucky said as he sat on the bed in front of them, leaning back on his elbow.

“Yup,” Steve sang, hooking his chin over Tony’s shoulder and looking down at Bucky, “better make it a good one, Tony.”

Tony tilted his head back and ran his hands up and down his torso, trying to tease both of his mates as he did. Steve was quickly stripping him bare and teasing Bucky with his words. Tony wasn’t going to last long with the things Steve was saying.

Steve chuckled against his shoulder. “Remember how badly you were begging to taste Tony during your heat?”

Bucky groaned and went to lean forward.

“Nope,” Steve slid his thumbs into Tony’s waistband, “You wait. Lets get him all naked first, babe. Can’t let you drool all over these nice slacks, can we.”

Bucky whined when Steve barely slipped the pants and underwear down. Tony was _definitely_ not going to last.

“Stevieee. C’mon.”

Steve pulled the pants down to Tony’s ankles and Bucky dropped to his knees, grabbing one of Tony’s hands and pressing it to Bucky’s head. Steve seemed happy with Tony’s pants staying where they were because he stood up and pulled Tony against him again. He reached around and held Tony still with one hand while pulling Bucky forward with the other.

“No sucking until I say. Tony’s not gonna be able to take your tongue.”

Bucky hummed and it ended the argument Tony was going to make because, yeah. He definitely was not going to last. With the stress of the past months and the fact that Steve and the Howlies might have been his childhood crushes, and here was Bucky on his knees… Yeah.

Tony had to close his eyes before the _playboy_ was dropped from his name.

Bucky was sitting there and letting Steve press Tony’s cock in and out of his mouth. Steve had a grip on his hips and was thrusting forward then dragging him back. Bucky seemed content to stay still.

“Tony, do you wanna get him messy or let him swallow it all?”

“Swallow, definitely.”

Steve grabbed the back of Bucky’s head and slowly pressed their hips forward until Bucky was swallowing around the head of Tony’s cock, and the visual did him in — Steve’s hand holding him steady as Bucky looked up at him.

Steve helped him flop on the bed without tripping over the pants around his ankles and Tony kicked them off before rolling to get a good view of Steve pumping in and out of Bucky’s mouth, pants barely hanging open enough for Bucky to suck him.

Bucky was looking Steve in the eyes and had his hand placed on top of Steve’s in his hair. It was a trust that Tony was sure came from lots of practice. He looked forward to that in the future. Steve didn’t seem to be in much better shape than he had been, quickly cumming down Bucky’s throat too.

Steve didn’t even bother tucking himself back in before he pulled Bucky up and leaned him over the bed. He had Bucky stripped quickly, dropping to his knees and burying his face. Bucky seemed to really enjoy it, if the sounds escaping his mouth were anything to go by.

“Bucky, want Tony to suck you off while I eat you out?”

Bucky moaned. “Yes. Please.”

Tony happily scooted to do that, humming as soon as he got Bucky into his mouth. Bucky was squirming between their mouths and he could hear Steve chuckle. He wasn’t sure how long Bucky held out, but his jaw was a little tired.

Tony barely heard Bucky’s gasped warning when his mouth was flooded and he tried to swallow, only to have most of it land on the pants crumpled up on the floor.

“And here I thought Bucky was gonna make the mess…”

Tony held up his hand and let it lazily point to the ceiling. “I would argue it still is Bucky’s mess.”

_Sirs, Mr. Barton asked me about pizza. Shall I order that now?_

* * *

Bucky’s shoulder port was the first thing they replaced. He had tried to argue that it would be fine, but the option for a flexible bridge between his skin and the vibranium was too much to pass up. Steve’s response to Tony trying to nicely point out the amount of damage Bucky caused each fight was to laugh and point out that Bucky was just being himself.

The dates had vastly improved, and Bucky found that he loved the looks they got when people saw them together. But it had left a lingering issue — he didn’t want to be an omega publicly.

Winter had taken to pointing out the ways that things would change.

**Oh, look, Omegas can’t get PTSD apparently.**

**Alpha bathroom, huh?**

**They move for you but not for Bruce.**

**Omegas gotta cover up like dames at this pool.**

Bucky was sure Tony and Steve wouldn’t mind if he decided to not share this secret. Steve had already spent most of his life helping Bucky hide it, and Tony seemed to not mind that Bucky wasn’t the Alpha he first met. The rest of the team would be able to be convinced.

His plans to discuss it with them were thrown off by an alarm sounding midway through their next date. Bucky was stuck home for now, too used to fighting with the arm to be effective without it. By the time the fight was over, Steve and Tony were too tired to have the conversation.

After a few tests, the arm was finally recalibrated and running properly, and they were ready to attach it. Getting the new arm linked up should be a quick process, mainly testing that he could control it as easily as the old one. They were going to have fun destroying it before Tony’s rut fully set in and they were able to bond. Stephen had been displeased being called in when the smell of pre-rut was so thick.

Shuri was waiting in the lab. “Are you ready, Sergeant Barnes?”

“It’s Bucky.”

Shuri raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with,” Bucky offered with a half-smile.

“Okay, on the count of three,” Stephen warned, “One, and there we go.”

The plating readjusted a few times while Bucky took deep breaths.

“Anything hurt?”

“No,” Bucky sounded happy, “Nothing at all.”

“Lets try writing first.”

Bucky grabbed a pen and signed his name on the pad Tony was holding out, _Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes, Howling Commandos, formerly 107th Infantry._

He took a deep breath and smiled as he wrote out _Bucky, Winter._

They were barely able to run through all the tests Stephen had laid out when Tony was dragging them outside for his own tests — the weapons.

“Okay, so, with the vibranium and the arc reactor in there, you have an entire armory at your disposal! I think we have the best target laid out for you, but Steve and I want to help too.”

Stephen made a face and summoned his circle. “Do _try_ to stay safe, I’d rather not see your faces again until the next alien attack.”

Tony couldn’t even snark back before Stephen had stepped through the portal and let it slam closed. “Rude.”

“I told you we should have waited until after your rut, Tones.”

“I’m pretty sure my _Alpha_ would be more than a little unhappy with my newly bonded mates being in the presence of him,” Tony mumbled

Steve nodded. “That is probably true. Now. Who wants to go first?”

Tony dragged Bucky forward, armed with one of his own gauntlets. “Okay, to call the repulsor out, take these three fingers —”

“Really, Tony?”

Tony smiled. “I figured if you wanna shoot your repulsor at something, you’re going to _also_ want to flip that thing off.”

Bucky laughed and flipped off the old arm.

“Tap twice with your fingers then,” he held out his hand, “fingers wide, hand cocked all the way back. It won’t let you shoot if you’re not safe.”

The repulsor whirred to life in Bucky’s palm, as bright as Tony’s.

“Now tense your arm.”

“I can’t tense metal, Doll.”

“Tense. Your. Arm.”

Bucky sighed and then there was a beam of light flying from his palm. “Tony!”

“We gotta work on your aim.”

“Tony! I— it worked. I can. There’s. Science!”

Tony laughed. “Yeah. turns out when you combine Shuri, Stephen, and Stark, not much is impossible.”

Bucky was staring at his arm and moving his hand around. Steve wrapped his arms around his smiling mates, kissing the top of Tony’s head. “Let’s destroy the hunk of junk and then I plan to show you just how amazing you are.”

They all took turns shooting at it and throwing things, not stopping until every piece had been destroyed into unrecognizable bits. Clint and Nat offered to clean it up when Tony’s scent spiked. By the time they made their way to Bucky’s nest and stumbled in, they were down to their underwear.

“You sure you wanna bond, doll? We can wait.”

“Unless that’s your way of backing out, I very much want to do this. I want both your bites and I can’t wait to walk around in clothes that show them both off. Can’t wait to make the bible belt whine over an Alpha taking an omega’s bite.”

“Well, actually, I was planning on… not coming out like that?” Bucky drew back.

“Oh, I’m sorry, of course. We don’t have to tell anyone we’re together.”

Bucky could smell the confidence draining from Tony at that. He remembered the stories of Tony’s exes; they either tried to use his name for everything or hid him away. Bucky grabbed onto his arm and pulled Tony against him, closing in to kiss him, but pausing right before they touched. “No, doll, I meant coming out as an _omega._ I am not letting _anyone_ think you are up for the taking. I am going to make sure we drown you in our scents and parade you around on our arms.”

“Just as all Alphas?”

“Mmmhmm, if that don’t bother you.”

“It didn’t bother me when I thought you were one, too. This just means I have to buy slightly less lube.”

Steve snorted and shoved them onto the bed, fixing the ruffled clothes as he climbed in behind them. They were careful to keep Tony mostly on top of them as they kissed and waited for Tony’s first wave to hit.

“So I had a thought,” Bucky whispered against Steve’s shoulder, “I want to get both my bites at the same time.”

“But that means we both have to knot you.”

“Yup.”

“At the same time.”

“Duh.”

“I should probably care more about safety but that… yes… want it,” Tony groaned.

Bucky laughed. “I’ve been practicing. J helped me order a big enough toy.”

“Using my poor, innocent AI for your wicked plans, James?”

“Always.”

“Good,” Tony growled.

Steve sat against the headboard, pulling Bucky into his lap. Tony pulled in close behind him, gently pressing a finger in and spreading the slick and gathering more to smear on Steve.

“Ready, babe?”

“Yes,” Bucky groaned as he lifted up, “come on already.”

Tony nipped his shoulder, but helped position Steve for Bucky to sink down on. “Impatient. You’d think you were in heat.”

“At this rate, I will be by the time we get to the biting part.”

Tony laughed. “Well, then you’ll be plenty ready.”

Bucky growled. “I have my arm and I _will_ use it to get my way if I need to.”

“But then you wouldn’t get to know all the fun things I added to it.”

“Princess and JARVIS will tell me.”

Steve thrust up and knocked them both onto his chest. “Less arguing, more bonding.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“No.”

Tony leaned forward and kissed Steve. “Fine. Stretching, knotting, biting.”

Bucky snorted. “Excellent plan, wish I had thought of it.”

Tony went to respond but Steve cut him off with another kiss. Tony smiled and started to stretch Bucky for the knotting. It probably would be easier to have one of them mate him first, kick off the bonding heat, but Bucky was set on taking their bites at the same time. Bucky seemed content to just relax and kiss Steve.

“How big was that toy?”

“JARVIS?”

An image was projected next to them and Tony had never felt so judged by a hologram in his life. But at least it soothed his worries.

“We are definitely going to use that one day. I wanna see you ride it.”

“Only if you bite me in the next decade.”

“Impatient Omega.”

Bucky shuddered and Tony was pretty sure it only had a little to do with the added finger. He filed that away for later. It wasn’t long before Tony felt comfortable with pressing into Bucky. Bucky was quick to roll his hips as soon as Tony stilled.

“Perfect Omega for us,” Tony whispered, “taking both his Alphas so well.”

Steve groaned as Bucky tightened up, knot already forming. Tony wasn’t far behind, between the sight and smell of his mates. Steve gripped onto Bucky and drew him in close, teeth seeking out one of Bucky’s glands as his knot popped and Tony was suddenly covered in Steve’s release. Bucky bit back then collapsed against Tony, offering the other gland.

Tony licked at it first, pushing his own knot fully in, biting down and filling Bucky more. He could feel the mix of slick and cum leaking from between them, the knots not quite doing their job when Bucky had both in him.

Steve shuffled a bit to get them all comfortable to wait for the knots to go down enough that they could pull free and finish the other half of the bonds. Bucky gripped onto Tony’s hand, mumbling something.

“What’s that?”

“I _said,_ we don’t need the picture anymore, _thank you, JARVIS,”_ Bucky grumbled.

The projection of the dildo disappeared.

_Of course, Sirs._


End file.
